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December 9, 2014

It's the little things in life that make me happy. Bright colors, curling up with a good book, handmade gifts. If you love those things I've got a quick tutorial for you! These throw pillows can be sewn up in 20 minutes (or less!) They make great gift ideas and, hell, go ahead and make some for yourself. Isn't that how any gift sewing goes? Intend to make something for someone else, fall in love with it, decide to keep it for yourself, and then need to make another for that gift.

Start with some fun cloth napkins. My favorite places to find them are at World Market and Crate & Barrel. I *always* scour the cloth napkin selections in these stores. Some seriously fabulous prints. See that teal rose print beauty in the first pic? Yes, that is Anna Maria Horner's Social Climber, and yes, I bought it as a cloth napkin at Crate & Barrel. Fabric is everywhere! You can buy matching sets or go with coordinating prints like I did. There's no wrong answer. I promise.

Press your napkins flat. Center a 18 to 20" zipper along one edge of a napkin, both right sides up. Top stitch the napkin to the zipper. Pin the second napkin to the other edge of the zipper, making sure the corners of each napkin and side ends line up as best you can. Not all cloth napkins are make perfectly square or exactly the same size so you may need to do some fudging around here. ("fudging around" technical term here meaning "just make it work") Top stitch the second napkin to the zipper.

Fold the napkins at the zipper so both are wrong sides facing each other (right sides out.) Starting at one end of the zipper, top stitch along the edge of the pillow, all the way around the napkins, until you reach the other end of the zipper. And that's it. Super easy, right?

Want to make them a bit fancier? Before you stitch your napkins together, put a little patch of stabilizer on the back of one corner and do a little hand embroidery. Trace a drawing or just doodle a bit.

Another way you can spice these throw pillows up is to add piping. Pin the piping around one napkin all the way around, then make sure you catch the piping as you stitch the zipper on and the napkins together.

Ill tell you my throw pillow insert secret, too. Go to Ikea! This Fjadrar insert is only $5.99 and duck feathers. It's so lux to have a stack of these to snuggle into and read on. If feather fill isn't your thing, go for the Inner insert. It's a super soft, poly fill cushion. Oh, and it's only $2.99. Plus, Ikea packaged these pillows rolled into tight, vacuumed cylinders, making them easy to carry home or ship!

Don't you just want to curl up with a good book and take a nap? (Yeah, me too!) Go make yourself one. Go make yourself a handful. The 20 Minute Throw Pillow is quick and easy. You'll have the satisfaction of finishing a project in one sew (No UFOs!) and you're bed/couch will be so Anthro looking, no one will believe you made them all. (For so very little money, too.)

December 7, 2014

Some of the things I made this year. Like my style? Start following along!

If we've never met before: Hi! Howdy! How you doing? My name is Jill and this is Made with Moxie. I make clothes, bags, quilts and other crafty crap. I've got two small kids, a fierce spirit, and I'll always give it to you straight. I live life to suck the marrow from it and have no regrets.

I'm keeping it short and sweet today though, since we all just want to know how to enter quickly so we can get on to entering other giveaways. I adore Instagram and Pinterest, so if you use those sites, let's get to know each other!

My only request is that you start following me on Instagram or Pinterest, then leave me a comment here telling me which you did. Heck, you can do both for a double entry. Please make sure you leave me your email address in your comment as well so I can let you know when you have won. ;)

I'm giving away a paper copy of the Alder Skirt pattern designed by imagine gnats. It's a simple skirt pattern that comes in a huge size range. Wear it with tights and boots in the cool weather or a tee and sandals when it gets warm. It's a sweet pattern because you can make it in so many different fabrics. One winner will be randomly selected on Monday, December 15th and will be notified by email. If you do not leave your email address a new winner will be chosen. Open to international entries.

Love Cotton & Steel? Enter to win a fat quarter pack of the yet to be released "Tokyo Train Ride" from Perfect Pattern Parcel, too! Click on the link above or the image below.

December 6, 2014

I have a tendency to over complicate things. Each idea starts little, but rumination leads me to grander and more involved projects. One of my goals for 2015 is going to be to keep it simple. Get back to the basics. Fun the joy in the little things (and keep them little!)

When Lacy at Living on Love asked me to share a project for the 12 Days of Handmade Christmas series I can't even being to tell you the ideas that ran through my head. Then I remembered I was sick. And I have five exams and two practical scan assessments to complete before getting my family of four onto a plane to head to California for Christmas. I remembered that my situation is not unique. We're all up to our gills in "busy". However, no matter how busy you and I are, you know we love to give (and get) handmade gifts for the holidays. (I mean, that's why you're here, right?)

So here is a simple, yet stylish, handmade holiday gift for you to make this season. Make one for you. Make one for your boy friend. Make one for your boss. (Added bonus: you can make these while you're sitting on the couch watching tv with your feet up. Yep, no sewing friends! )

Start with 45" of plaid cotton flannel fabric. The size is not important. You decide the shape and size. I made my scarf to be a large square and purchased a length that was equal to the width of the fabric. Next, PREWASH YOUR FABRIC. Always prewash cotton flannel. Washer, dryer, bing, bang, boom. Press your fabric. Trim your fabric to square it up. This means making the edges straight and your corners, well, square. Also, trim off the selvedges (the not raggedy edges.)

Decide how deep you want your fringe to be (mine is roughly one inch-ish) and make cuts into the edges of your fabric that depth cutting as parallel to the fabric's threads as possible. Space your cuts roughly 2 to 3 inches apart. Make it easy on yourself. Use your plaid as a guide.

Using your fingers gently pull the threads in one cut corner from each other. The vertical threads are going to stay as your fringe. The horizontal ones you are going to pull out. It is easiest to pull them out one or two at a time. You'll think, hey, this is easy and try to do three or four and it just won't work.

Continue to pull out the horizontal threads until you reach the base of your cuts. If you need help removing the last few threads (my voices can't let me leave these last two white threads) use a pin or needle to pull them up and out.

Put your feet up and continue working your way around the scarf. When you get to corners cut them square like this.

My favorite way to wear a large square scarf is to fold it in half along the diagonal to make a big triangle. Then bunch it up a bit in your hands and criss cross the ends being your neck and bring them forward. Leave the long, or tie them up and tuck them under the triangle tips. It won't require fancy tying because the soft fluffy flannel sticks to itself a bit.

Looking for some other fun handmade gift ideas? Check out the other eleven days of Handmade Christmas! (I'm thinking my hubby could make me one of those DIY Bath Caddies. Hint, hint.)